Supporting detail:

The Chemical Weapons Convention

The UK is one of 188 countries that have ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the first arms-control treaty to introduce a verifiable ban on an entire class of weapons of mass destruction.

The CWC entered into force on 29 April 1997 and all Member States must agree to its provisions, which include:

to chemically disarm by destroying all stockpiles of chemical weapons, any facilities which produced them and any old or abandoned chemical weapons from the past

never to develop, produce, stockpile or use chemical weapons

submit regular declarations to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on the production, processing, consumption, and import and export of certain dual-use chemicals

allow the OPCW to carry out routine inspections on their territories

The OPCW is based in The Hague, and has the mandate to achieve the object and purpose of the CWC, which includes an international verification regime to build confidence between CWC States Parties.

UK CWC National Authority

DECC, as the UK CWC National Authority, is responsible for implementing the CWC throughout the UK, the Crown Dependencies and the Overseas Territories. Our powers to do this are contained in the Chemical Weapons Act 1996. The Act outlines the legal obligations on those producing, processing, consuming, importing or exporting certain toxic chemicals.

Updated information on the Global Partnership and the G8 Presidency events.

19 August 2013 1:47pm

Updated to include information on the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit.

29 May 2013 2:49pm

Updated Chemical Weapons Convention content

4 April 2013 9:05am

Page updated on 3 April 2013 to include section on Mines and Mine Action, and update to section on Arms Trade Treaty, following adoption of the ATT at the UN.

30 January 2013 10:38am

Added Global Partnership action and details page

30 January 2013 10:38am

Detail added: Global Partnership

17 January 2013 3:09pm

Updated Supporting detail: Counter-Proliferation Programme

9 January 2013 10:11am

Angela Harber of DECC requested changes to Chemical Weapons Convention detail page: new CWC link http://www.opcw.org/chemical-weapons-convention/; "The OPCW has the mandate to achieve the object and purpose of the CWC, which includes an international verification regime to build confidence between States "; added "and import and export and import and export" to second bullet point.

2 January 2013 10:31am

Embargoes and sanctions supporting page edited so it links to the detailed guide Current arms embargoes and other restrictions, rather than listing each embargoed country.